This Is Not Supposed To Be A Political Blog

Last night, the United States elected to its highest office a xenophobic climate change denier who wants to roll back LGBTQ rights to marriage licenses and women’s rights to body autonomy.

I live on the west coast of North America which is one of the continent’s longest running belts of left leaning electorates. Election results like these are often a reality check for me. In my west coast bubble it is very easy to forget that there are millions of people out there who vehemently disagree with me on things that seem like a no-brainer (ie. What I mentioned above). And this is a problem I share with a lot of lefties – we are insulated. Especially with the help of social media. I’m especially guilty of this as most of what I read is non-conservative and I don’t have any family members to get into ugly political discussions with over thanksgiving dinner.

That isn’t to say I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about these issues – because I do. But I feel a sense of foreboding exhaustion at knowing that we are facing four more years of HARD push back against progress that may have been taken for granted.

And there’s still a part of me that wants to believe that this election result was just an angry outburst against the establishment rather than a rejection of the progress we’ve made. Or possibly even an ignorance of what progress we’ve made and how it could be undone and that people really aren’t as bad as this election makes them seem.But whatever I choose to believe, there is now potential for that damage to be done, making the argument moot.

It isn’t a happy go lucky day today. But I promise I’ll write something soothing to lighten the mood in here.